Princess May of Teck was born at Kensington Palace on 26th May 1867, the daughter of Francis Paul, Duke of Teck and Mary Adelaide, formerly a princess of Cambridge.Due to her father's morganatic descent from the House of Württemberg, she was known by the title Serene Highness and was christened with the names Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes, Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) stood as godparents.

Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge was a jovial, good natured and popular member of the royal family, but due to her rapidly expanding girth, the Cambridge family had been hard pressed to find a husband for her.On a visit to Brussels with her mother in 1852, King Leopold of the Belgians reported to his niece Queen Victoria, of their encounter, " Poor Mary, such a beautiful child, is grown out of all compass, to my great regret, Leopold, who is all longitude, was her neighbour and looked quite alarmed." Prince Oscar of Sweden was dispatched to England with a view to a match being made between the pair, but left having failed to propose. "Alas!" stated an exasperated Lord Clarendon "no German Prince will venture on so vast an undertaking".Princess Mary Adelaide remained unmarried until the age of thirty, when Prince Teck, on a visit to England, declared himself amenable and the pair were married on 12th June 1866, at Kew Church, Surrey.Four children resulted from their union,Princess May, or Victoria Mary, was followed in succession by three brothers, Prince Adolphus of Teck later Duke of Teck and Marquess of Cambridge, Prince Francis of Teck and Prince Alexander George of Teck, known as 'Alge' to the family and later created Earl of Athlone.

Marriage: May accepted the proposal of Prince Albert Victor , Duke of Clarence and Avondale (1864-1892), the eldest son of Albert Edward , Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark.Their engagement was announced in December, 1891.It is said that Queen Victoria influenced her grandson's choice of bride.Tragically, "Eddy" as he was known in the family, which developed into pnuemonia, resulting in his death at but 28 years old.Prince George of Wales, the Prince of Wales second son and now created Duke of York, as well as inheriting his brother's place in the succession,took an interest in his intended bride and to the delight of her mother, Mary Adelaide, himself proposed to Princess May of Teck in May 1893, after a suitable period of mourning.Their marriage took place on 6 July 1893 at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, in London.http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/windsor_31.html

Princess Victoria Mary (May) of Teck was born on 26 May 1867 at Kensington Palace, London.Although her mother was a grandchild of George III, May was only a minor member of the British Royal Family.In December 1891, May was engaged to her second cousin, once-removed, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales.The choice of May as bride for the Duke owed much to Queen Victoria's fondness for her, as well as to her strong character and sense of duty.However, the Duke of Clarence and Avondale died six weeks later, in the worldwide influenza pandemic which swept through Britain in the winter of 1891–2. In May 1893, George duly proposed; May accepted, and they were soon deeply in love. Their marriage was a success.George wrote to May every day they were apart and, unlike his father, never took a mistress.May married Prince George, Duke of York, on 6 July 1893 at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, in London.The new Duke and Duchess of York lived in York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, and in apartments in St. James's Palace.York Cottage was a modest house for royalty, but it was a favourite of George, who liked a relatively simple life. They had six children: Edward, Albert, Mary, Henry, George, and John.The Duchess loved her children, but she put them into the care of a nanny, as was usual in upper-class families at the time.The first nanny was dismissed for insolence and the second for abusing the children.This second woman, anxious to suggest that the children preferred her to anyone else, would pinch Edward and Albert whenever they were about to be presented to their parents, so that they would start crying and be speedily returned to her.On discovery, she was replaced by her effective and much-loved assistant, Mrs. Bill.Sometimes, Queen Mary appears to have been a distant mother.At first, she failed to notice the nanny's abuse of the young Princes Edward and Albert,and her youngest son, Prince John, was housed in a private farm on the Sandringham Estate, in the care of Mrs. Bill, perhaps to hide his epilepsy from the public.However, despite her austere public image and her strait-laced private life, Mary was a caring mother in many respects, revealing a fun-loving and frivolous side to her children and teaching them history and music.Edward wrote fondly of his mother in his memoirs:"Her soft voice, her cultivated mind,the cosy room overflowing with personal treasures were all inseparable ingredients of the happiness associated with this last hour of a child's day ... Such was my mother's pride in her children that everything that happened to each one was of the utmost importance to her. With the birth of each new child, Mama started an album in which she painstakingly recorded each progressive stage of our childhood"He expressed a less charitable view, however, in private letters to his wife after his mother's death: "My sadness was mixed with incredulity that any mother could have been so hard and cruel towards her eldest son for so many years and yet so demanding at the end without relenting a scrap. I'm afraid the fluids in her veins have always been as icy cold as they are now in death."On 22 January 1901, Queen Victoria died, and May's father-in-law, Albert Edward, ascended the throne as Edward VII.For most of the rest of that year, George and May were styled TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York.For eight months they toured the British Empire, visiting Gibraltar, Malta, Egypt, Ceylon, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius, South Africa and Canada.No royal had undertaken such an ambitious tour before.She broke down in tears at the thought of leaving her children, who were to be left in the care of their grandparents, for such a lengthy period of time. King George V and Queen Mary.On 6 May 1910, Edward VII died.The Prince of Wales ascended the throne as George V, and May became his queen consort.When her husband asked her to drop one of her two official names, Victoria Mary, she chose to be called Mary, preferring not to take the name of her husband's grandmother, Queen Victoria. Queen Mary was crowned with the King on 22 June 1911 at Westminster Abbey.continue..... http://www.flickr.com/photos/kingkongphoto/3954729102/

There is info around the internet about that if you search. But the better choice would be to buy a book about the royal family jewels. If you are interested I can search the two which are the most relevant but now I do not remember the name.

The buying of jewels from the romanov family is kind of controversial because some think that Queen Mary profited from her family by buying their jewels at a cheaper price than their value or she did not even pay for them. I do not remember the details because I read about it a long time ago.

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